Former CIA counterproliferation officer Richard Barlow has shed new light on a long-rumoured episode from the early 1980s — a secret joint plan by India and Israel to carry out a pre-emptive strike on Pakistan’s Kahuta nuclear facility. Speaking to ANI, Barlow confirmed that such discussions did take place within intelligence circles but were ultimately abandoned after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi refused to approve the operation. Advertisement

“It never happened, it was just talk. It is a shame that Indira did not approve it. It would have solved a lot of problems,” Barlow said.

According to him, the strike — had it been executed — could have dramatically altered South Asia’s nuclear trajectory. “In 1990, when India and Pakistan came close to confrontation, the intelligence commu

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